Dengue, otherwise known as hemorrhagic fever, seems to be claiming more and more friends if I go by text messages alone.

A few weeks back I was told that the mother of an acquaintance, a resident of Dasmariñas Village, succumbed to the mosquito-borne disease. Her son (my acquaintance) flew home from the US to attend the funeral. When he returned to the US, he fell ill of dengue but thankfully survived. He must have gotten bitten by a dengue mosquito while here but the disease only manifested itself when he was back there.

Two days ago another friend of mine sent me a text. Apparently after days of feeling nauseous and having high fever, he was taken to a hospital in Manila and found to have dropping platelet counts. Yesterday his wife sent another text, this time requesting for prayers because his platelets count keeps on dropping.

Like a recession, we don’t normally worry about epidemics unless it starts hitting home. Dengue is no longer just something we read about in the papers or listen to in the evening news reports – it is striking at people we know, from all walks of life, and unless something massive is done soon it will continue to strike closer and closer to home.

Maybe here is an opportunity for MMDA chair Bayani Fernando to demonstrate the stuff he is made of. Since he is unable to impose discipline on EDSA on a 24/7 basis – like any other politician, is BF’s "successes" at EDSA just all "ningas cogon"? – maybe if he is able to launch a Metro Manila-wide anti dengue campaign that actually yields results, then more people will take notice of his campaign for the presidency.

What do you say, Chairman Fernando?

Then again, the anti-dengue campaign must be more than just in Metro Manila. Make no mistake about it: this is a killer, and we make the killings continue when we are unable to eliminate opportunities for the killer mosquitoes to breed.

What’s dengue anyway? Here’s what the US National Institute of Health has to say:

"Four different dengue viruses have been shown to cause dengue hemorrhagic fever. This condition occurs when a person catches a different dengue virus after being infected by another type sometime before. Prior immunity to a different dengue virus type plays an important role in this severe disease.

"Worldwide, more than 100 million cases of dengue fever occur every year. A small number of these develop into dengue hemorrhagic fever. Most infections in the United States are brought in from other countries. It is possible for a traveler who has returned to the United States to pass the infection to someone who has not traveled.

"Risk factors for dengue hemorrhagic fever include having antibodies to dengue virus from prior infection and being younger than 12, female, or Caucasian.

"Early symptoms of dengue hemorrhagic fever are similar to those of dengue fever, but after several days the patient becomes irritable, restless and sweaty. These symptoms are followed by a shock-like state.

"Bleeding may appear as pinpoint spots of blood on the skin (petechiae) and larger patches of blood under the skin (ecchymoses). Bleeding may occur from minor injuries.

"Shock may cause death. If the patient survives, recovery begins after a one-day crisis period.

"Early symptoms include the following: Fever, Headache, Muscle aches, Joint aches, Malaise, Decreased appetite, Vomiting.

Acute phase symptoms include the following: Shock-like state, Sweaty (diaphoretic), Cold, clammy extremities and restlessness followed by: Worsening of earlier symptoms, Petechia, Ecchymosis and generalized rash.

"Because Dengue hemorrhagic fever is caused by a virus for which there is no known cure or vaccine, the only treatment is to treat the symptoms.

"With early and aggressive care, most patients recover from dengue hemorrhagic fever. However, half of untreated patients who go into shock do not survive."

Just describing how dengue progresses makes me queasy. And the thought that out there are hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes carrying this virus, from which there is no cure, makes me more worried than even the continuing stock market problems in the United States. But what worries me more is the apparent lackadaisical attitude that the authorities are taking towards dengue. This is an actual threat, mind you, and not some potential crisis situation. And yet look at how we are addressing the threat?

I don’t think it should, but will it require an explicit order from the President to get the gears of government moving. Since some references to dengue on Google already describe it as "Philippine hemorrhagic fever," maybe we should take some action now based on a sense of "ownership" and lick this thing before we find more and more Filipinos at risk.